For most people, ditching an application that they have grown so used to as Windows Explorer, is a tough step. But why switch to a completely new tool if the familiar one can simply be enhanced? This is where FilerFrog comes in, a free application that adds several incredibly useful features to the Windows Explorer that will make working with files a breeze.

How Does FilerFrog Change Windows Explorer?

To be exact, FilerFrog is a shell extension that integrates with Windows Explorer. It adds additional features to the Windows file manager, without dramatically changing or even replacing it. In fact, FilerFrog is very unobtrusive.

After installing the application and rebooting your computer, you will notice the FilerFrog item in the right-click menu, i.e. in the Windows Explorer menu.

What Does FilerFrog Do?

Hiding behind the FilerFrog item in the Windows Explorer menu are powerful tools that you will never want to live without again! Once you get a first look at the menu, it becomes obvious just how many operations this little tool puts at your fingertips.

> Organize > Extract Files To Folder

With this feature you can easily create a new folder and move selected files and/or folders to it in one step. The new folder will be created on the same level as the selected files and/or folders that will go into it. The operation > Extract Files to Folder completes the opposite maneuver.

> Organize > Copy / Move

Instead of clumsily copying and pasting files or dragging them from one open folder to another folder next to it, you can now simply copy or move them by using FilerFrog and browsing to the desired location.

I think that all features grouped under the > Organize submenu are ingenious! How about the other submenus?

> Sort Desktop

The name of this item is a little misleading. It actually doesn’t allow you to sort the desktop. Instead, it allows you to manage the color scheme of your desktop.

> List Of Files

Following this path you can not just simply create a list of files in any folder, you can create either a detailed or a simple list of selected files, including or excluding the full path.

> Security

With FilerFrog you can encrypt files and protect them with a password.

> Split and Join

Ever needed to split files to burn them onto multiple CDs or send them via email? FilerFrog lets you split and join files, either using predefined file sizes or a custom split file size.

> Rename

The Rename category opens the doors to various ways of batch-renaming your files. For example > Find and Replace allows you to identify a common item in the name of several files and then replace that item with whatever you choose. Using > Append you can add a word to the beginning and/or end of a file name.

> Image Manipulation

Going through this submenu you can resize images, convert them to Jpeg at the same time, or add a logo.

> Image Album

Very simple but fantastic feature to quickly pack selected photos into a PDF document, ready to share with friends and family.

Can I Customize FilerFrog?

You bet! You have two options for customization. First of all, you can put your most used and hence favorite items into the Favorites submenu. If you find the path to this submenu too far, you can click the > Settings submenu and select > Show favorites in main menu (hide all other menus).

In both cases you need to actually define your favorites. Simply click the > Manage Favorites item and a window that allows you to drag items over into the Favorites menu will open.

The resulting menu could look like this:

So this was a quick FilerFrog review in a nutshell. If you need more detailed explanations, I recommend reading the excellent Help file, which also holds various examples for how you could use selected operations.

MakeUseOf has previously covered alternatives for Windows Explorer:

• SE-Explorer: A Portable Full-Featured Windows Explorer Alternative
• Forget Windows Explorer, Explorer++ Is The Perfect, Powerful Alternative
• The 5 Good Free Windows File Managers

Have you experimented with alternatives to Windows Explorer or shell extensions? What are the features you think are missing from this extension or other file managers?

There’s a myriad of reasons why you should re-discover the service if you don’t use it already as updates are constantly pushed and it would be a great alternative to sites like Drop.io. For those that appreciate WebDAV access or at least, an easier way to upload files from your desktop’s file manager, here are the simple steps to view your Box.net files in Windows Explorer.

Easily Upload Files Via Windows Explorer

Note: Tested in several Windows Vista machines. WinXP users can see Techie Buzz’s handy post.

1. Press the Win key + E or go to the Start menu, right-click on Computer and select Open.

2. Right-click on Computer again and select Add A Network Location, which will prompt the respective wizard.

3. Click Next on the welcoming screen.

4. Then select the second option, Choose a custom network location.

Type the following:

If for some reason, you have trouble, try the unsecured

http://www.box.net/dav

.

5. If everything goes well, you’ll get a popup window asking you for your credentials. Type your username, which is the email you use to log in to Box.net, as well as your password.

6. Now you can type a name for you to easily identify this location, before clicking Next.

7. You can choose whether to or not to check the box to launch the network location on Windows Explorer after exiting the wizard.

Click on Finish.

On Ubuntu, make sure you log onto Box.net in your web browser before following the instructions on the How-To Geek blog. This might break at times because support for WebDav has stopped after similar posts were written but at this time, it looks like it works. You might also find Gladinet interesting if you are still having problems connecting, since it’s designed to help you map network drives for web apps.

Why Use Box.Net?

• You can preview the more popular file types, such as FLV flash, MP3 and PDF files inside your browser.



• There’s integration with other web services that provide you with file-editing capabilities while you don’t even have to download desktop software to handle them. For pictures, there’s Picnik, for signing documents, there’s DocuSign, etc.
• There’s a built-in word processor, with collaboration features.



Depending on what services from the OpenBox you add, you can have other office suites, like Zoho, at your disposal and still use Box.net for storage.



• You can embed your Box.net files (or the ones in a specific folder) in your website with a widget.



• Your readers can then subscribe to a feed to update them when you modify the contents of the shared files or folders.

The only downside to Box.net is that you can only upload files of up to 25MB for the free account, but most files I own are within the limits.

Online storage services abound these days. You’ll find many Dropbox fans, as well as people that swear by Mozy, and Windows Live Skydrive. I’ve personally always used Skydrive to upload pictures by email when Flickr and Facebook just don’t cut it.

What do you use to store files?

The default file manager under Windows is of course Windows Explorer. While most users can get along just fine with this application, there are quite a few areas where it could be improved for the better. That’s why there are Windows Explorer alternatives out there. One of them is SE-Explorer, which gives users much more than just the ability to manage files and folders.

SE-Explorer is a free application which is also available as a portable app. Let’s take a peek at what this application can do, and whether you could use as a Windows Explorer alternative.

It Comes With Tabs

If you’d like to try this application, you can download either the installer or the compressed portable version (or both). I personally prefer the portable version, as it’s more mobile and gives users similar features. Moreover, I can place it in my Dropbox folder so it will always be ready at every computer that I use. The file size is very small, less than 2.5 MB, so the download should be done quickly.

The first thing that you will notice about the app is the tabs. SE-Explorer will begin the sessions with three basic tabs: file manager, file search, and size scanner. The file manager will show you the content of your drive with all the basic managerial functions (like copy and move) and quick access to all of the mounted drives on your computer.

File search is exactly what the name says. It allows you to do basic and advanced searching of everything inside your hard drive. I don’t have the tools and expertise to do a comparison, but I personally feel that SE-Explorer’s search function is much speedier than the default Windows search feature.

Size Scanner comes with several scan options, but the most useful one for me is the “Top largest files” as it allows me to find which files consume the largest portion of my storage.

After you have the results of the file search or size scan, you can save the list as text files for future reference. This is another useful feature that you won’t find on Windows Explorer.

More Useful Features

Aside from the features mentioned above, SE-Explorer also comes with several other more useful features. One of them is the ability to compare files and folders.

Even though most normal users might never need to compare files, it would be very handy for programmers, web designers, or those who have lines of codes for breakfast.

On the other hand, every computer user could use the folder comparing feature once in a while, especially if they keep several copies of a folder in different places as backups and do a lot of folder synchronizing.

SE-Explorer gives you quick access to the command line via the address field on the location bar under the file manager tab. Just write down the command, hit enter, and the action will be performed inside the open command line window.

More customizations are available via the “Options” window.

As a nice bonus, SE-Explorer comes with a media player. The player will open in a new tab and will play pretty much everything that you throw at it. The player managed my collection of common multimedia files with no problem.

To know more about other things that SE-Explorer can do, there’s a features list on the app’s homepage.

To sum things up, I think SE-Explorer is a solid files And folder manager with many useful features. If you are looking for a viable Windows Explorer alternative, this app could serve you well.

If you have your own personal alternative(s) to Windows Explorer, please feel free to share them using the comments section below.

Image credit: jma.work

Here are two more file browsers that carry handy features that Windows Explorer lacks. The first one may even be hidden within your installed programs, while the second one is a new application with a twist.

7-Zip File Manager (Cross-Platform)

You probably already have downloaded one of the best file compression/decompression tools out there, 7-zip, which shines with its high compression rate (and fares well compared to other free file archivers), but did you know it also bundles a lightweight file manager? Me neither, up until it was mentioned on How-To Geek.

The 7-zip two-pane file manager just works and doesn’t get stuck like Windows Explorer might if you try to copy or move an enormous file around.

If you already have 7-zip installed, you can start using the file manager by simply typing ” 7″ in the Start Menu search box. If you want faster access, you can right-click on it > Send To > Desktop.

Best Features

• No delays whatsoever: If you’re looking for a fast file manager, you’ve found it.
• You can browse ISO files as if they were folders. In this screenshot, I’m browsing the ISO file that contains the setup file for Microsoft Expression Studio Ultimate, which I got free for being a student.



• Quickly perform common tasks with keyboard shortcuts, including some that you usually need dedicated programs for.



• Quickly navigate to frequently-accessed folders with keyboard shortcuts (by adding that folder to your Favorites).



• Change folder and file views with hotkeys (default view is Details).

There’s also a way for you to omit the cascaded menu when you right-click on say a zip file and instead, have the 7-zip options when you right-click.

To fix that, you just need to head to Tools in the File Manager menu bar and adjust your Options.

Nemo Documents (Windows)

Nemo Documents is also a lightweight, unobtrusive file manager that displays your file structure à la Google Calendar (which is supported!) or Outlook, that is, in a calendar view and provides more intuitive ways to find files, period. I can see the calendar view being useful to anyone that is GTD-conscious and may want to review files that s/he is working on.

Nemo Documents can also double up as a search tool as it integrates with the built-in Desktop Search function in Vista and Windows 7 to help you search for keywords or phrases inside documents.

Thus, as the author’s website indicates, if you can’t remember the name of some file, you can combine these keywords along with “other clues that you can remember about the document, such as a specific month or the file type” to help you find a file.

Windows 7 can bundle search results by month (as you can see in Jim’s screenshot), but now WinXP and Vista users can get this and additional views with the file manager in question.

Another cool thing is that you can tag or label files, regardless of the file type.

Usually, you can only add tags to Microsoft documents, JPEG images and nothing else in Windows Explorer, unless you are using third-party applications, such as TaggedFrog or Tag2Find. Thus, if you’re into tagging or could use more efficient file searches with tags, Nemo Documents might be for you.

Nemo Documents is as small as downloads come (the download file size is about 672 KB) and occupies 1.77 MB once installed. It seems like this product is pretty young so it might implement additional features later on as more feedback becomes available to the authors.

Have you got any alternative file browsers you’re extremely fond of? Share it with us in the comments!

Image credit: Andrew Currie

Explorer++ is available for download here. The download is small ZIP file. Explorer++ is a portable software, just extract the ZIP file and run the executable and you are good to go. Explorer++ is loaded with features, that can put standard Windows Explorer to shame, any day. Let’s have a look at some of the better ones that make this such a great Windows Explorer alternative.

Out of the box, Explorer++ opens up as listing all the drives on your computer. The familiar "Computer" screen. Towards the left there is the sidebar, where in you can view the Folder tree. Towards the bottom is the display window which displays the details about the current selection and the status bar which presents useful information of all kinds.

The single most influential of features is perhaps tabbed browsing of folders. Moving, copying and organizing files becomes so much easier with the inclusion of tabs. In addition, you can perform all the standard tab operations as well. You can duplicate tabs, lock tabs, bind a tab to a particular folder and so on. Another great thing about Explorer++ is that it doesn’t clutter the right click context menu. The only entry you get in the right-click menu is to open a folder in new tab. Everything else is accessible via the menus and the shortcut keys.

Open up a folder in Explorer++ and you can Save the directory listing, copy paths, open up a command prompt at the folder, set file attributes all from the file menu (and thus with shortcuts). If for example, you want to save the directory listing of the currently opened folder you can press Alt+F and then L to run the directory listing command. Similarly to move or copy selected folders quickly you can press Ctrl+Shift+M or Ctrl Shift+C, then choose a folder and your files are moved or copied without needing to open the destination folder once.

That is not all, there are a number of other useful commands available as well. You can for example split a file into chunks of 50MB files thereby enabling you to upload a large file while confirming to the file size limits of a cloud storage service. Go to Actions > Split file to achieve this. You can also merge split files to get back the original file. Explorer++ also lets you securely delete files by overwriting the disk space preventing file recovery.

You can user Explorer++ as a secondary file browser or you can use it as a complete Windows Explorer alternative altogether. Such settings and preferences can be tweaked easily via Tools > Options. You can also configure the folder that Explorer++ displays the first time you run it. In addition to Explorer++ specific settings, you can also tweak general Files and Folders settings like showing file extensions or single click to open a folder, etc. Explorer++ provides plenty of options letting you configure the software to your needs.

Explorer++ is an excellent application you can use in conjunction with Windows Explorer or as a stand along file browser. Tabbed browsing, bookmarks and the amazing number of command and search options make it a viable option to replace Windows Explorer. If that seems too much to you, you can also use it as a secondary file manager. The fact that it is portable and doesn’t need installation makes it indispensable for situations where you would like a little more than what Windows Explorer can offer you.

In case you like to stick with Windows Explorer, don’t forget to check out these addons. If Explorer++ interests you, here are a 5 more file managers you should look at before making your choice.

What is your preference, pimped up Windows Explorer? Or one of the feature rich replacements?

That being said, God Mode is a title that it has acquired and therefore it is pretty widely known as such.  The God Mode hack for Windows Vista and Windows 7 is a quick and easy way to make a panel that offers quick and easy access to quite the exhaustive list of Windows settings.

In this article I would like to share how to do the god mode hack AND several ways to make better use of the shortcut once created.

Let me first mention that it has been purported that this hack can have adverse effects on a 64 bit Windows Vista system so please don’t attempt this if that is your operating system.  If you are not sure if your Vista system is the 64 bit version, just check in the System Information Window which is found in the Control Panel and is called “System.”

This article will be depicting screenshots of a Windows Vista system only.  Realize that this god mode hack will also work with Windows 7.

First of all, let me share with you how to do the hack creating the desired shortcut.

DISCLAIMER: Just so you know, this idea is not a new one.  It has been shared with the general public already by many sources, one of which being cnet.  The basic idea is to create a folder in any location on the hard drive.  The trick is in the name. Most instructions you will come across will tell you to name the folder “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” without the quotes but it really doesn’t matter whether or not you use the word combination “GodMode.”  The important part is the rest of it.

I named the folder on my system “Windows Settings.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” for several reasons.  One, I think it describes it better and two, I think using the term “GodMode” is a somewhat flippant use for the title of God.  Call it whatever you want.

Anyhow, this hack is really cool because it contains virtually all the settings for your Windows system in one place.  If you’ve used Windows before, you’ll understand how incredibly helpful this is!  No more hunting and trying to remember where that specific setting is located just so you can do that tiny tweak you once knew how to do.  Even aside from that, the sheer amount of clicking that you are saved from makes it worth it all!

OK, now for a few tips on how to make better use of the “GodMode” hack.

1.  Make It Easily Accessible At A Moment’s Notice!

You can always do the easy-peasy desktop shortcut.  I, for one HATE having shortcuts all over my desktop which is why I typically keep them all hidden.  My suggestion is to create a quick start link on your taskbar.  I have all my important programs linked there so I hardly ever even need to visit the Start menu!

Then there’s always the infamous Rocket Dock, making Windows one more step closer to mimicking the Apple.

2.  Sort Those Settings Links!

One of the first things I noticed about the list of settings was how disorganized they appeared.  Well, if you look carefully, you’ll notice that you can click to sort them!  You can put them in order alphabetically by name, application or keywords.  To me it would seem that the application would be the most logical way to sort them, but to each his own, right?

3.  Filter For The Settings You’re Looking For!

Although it is present in all file folders, the nifty little search box at the top of the window is a real time saver when you’re looking for specific settings within that exhaustive list.  If you have the slightest idea of what you’re looking for, begin to type it and watch the unwanted settings drop off!  Simple yet effective!

How about it?  Is the God Mode hack what it’s cracked up to be?  Do you have a better solution to quickly find the settings you’re looking for?  Let us know!

Then someone would say that it’s unfair to allow Finder to be on the list because Mac users don’t even have a choice. Finder always starts automatically with Mac OS X, and there’s no way to close it.

I think that’s not a valid statement. Most users wouldn’t want to close Finder even if they can (And FYI, you can close Finder as long as you know the Secret). That’s because Finder is one of the most useful applications on the Mac. You do your daily copy, move, launch and other kinds of file management there.

So it’s a bit strange that if you compare it with other native Mac apps, Finder seems to get less attention. It gets small tweaks here and there over time, but in general it’s still the same old Finder that we know and love from back then. At least, that’s the way it appears to our non-techie eyes.

Not For The Faint Of Heart

The state of Finder as it is today might be fine for most users, but I know many power users who wish to be able to do more with Finder. That’s why there are Mac finder alternatives out there.

One of the alternatives is TotalFinder. This SIMBL plugin will bring your Finder to a new level. If you are truly a power user, I think you would want to try out this app.

However, there are a few things that should be noted up front about this Mac finder alternative:

1. TotalFinder is Snow Leopard only. This is due to the fact that SIMBL plugins like Afloat and SizeWell only work for Cocoa applications and unlike its previous Carbon version, Snow Leopard’s Finder has been re-written in Cocoa.
2. It is also still in the early Alpha stage. Trying it means preparing yourself for bugs and crashes. You should back up often (that’s why it’s not for the faint of heart).
3. This app will stop being a free app after it goes out of Alpha.

So why bother trying? Why recommend this app despite the disadvantages? I’ll tell you why.

It’s For The Fun Of It

There are several cool things that make this so-called still-buggy app worth a look. But before we get to that point, let’s start from the very beginning, shall we?

The installer comes with many words of warnings: about the free Alpha period, about SIMBL, and about the need to finish all Finder activities before proceeding. Click continue only if you are ready.

Please also note that there’s an uninstaller inside the disk image, should you need it.

After the installation, Finder will be restarted and you’ll quickly notice two different changes: a new icon of Finder (wearing shades), and… the tabs! Yes Sir! Your Finder can do tabs now. Can you guess what the tabs appearance is similar to?

However, the slider which usually sits at the bottom right of the Finder window in icon view mode is missing. So you can’t adjust the icon size.

You will also notice the TotalFinder icon in the menubar. Clicking on it will bring out the information about the expiration date, and also the Preferences – the place where you can adjust the app’s behavior.

There are four tabs there:

1. Visor: Gives you the ability to assign shortcuts to summon (or hide) Finder from within any application, and whether to stick Finder to a specific Space or make it available to all Spaces.

   

2. .DS_Store: If you move your data around a lot between Mac and Windows, you must be familiar with .DS_Store files. These useful clutters are everywhere, but visible only if we view the storage under a Windows machine. This tab gives you the ability to control the behavior of .DS_Store files.

   

3. Tweaks: You can choose whether you want to show hidden files or not from here. There’s also the option to put Folders always on top.

   

4. Purchase: This is where you can update TotalFinder to the next version (or make the purchase when it’s not free anymore).

The Conclusion Is….

TotalFinder might still be in Alpha, but I’ve survived the first few days of normal usage without crashes. Lucky me.

Personally, I think the coolest feature of TotalFinder is the Tab, and that feature alone should earn this little app a little bit of your time.

But is it worth whatever money that the developer will charge in the future? I honestly don’t know. All I know is that at this moment TotalFinder is still a free Mac finder alternative and I’m making use of that.

But I do hope that the developer would consider at least providing a free version (with less features, maybe?) of this app in the future so that more users could experience how great Finder could be.

How about you? Would you try TotalFinder? Do you know other alternatives to Finder?  Please share using the comments below.